Microsoft's Fake OS Gets a Web Site

Earlier we wrote about how Microsoft used a kind of blind taste test
to get die-hard Windows XP users to try Vista --- and that they even
liked it. They were told that they were trying a new OS, called Mojave. We also said that Microsoft hadn't figured out a marketing campaign, but it appears that's changed.

Microsoft last week interviewed XP users who were skeptical of Vista
and showed them what it called a secret new version of Windows,
"Mojave." It was in fact Vista. The results, according to Microsoft
executives, were almost universally positive, with participants
expressing surprise when told it was actually Vista they had been
using.

For now, Microsoft has put up a teaser site,
with plans to show the actual video footage next week.

Although the video was compelling and entertaining, at least
some of the people I talked to who saw the video at Thursday's analyst
meeting also stressed that early demos of Vista also looked good. The
video, necessarily, doesn't show what it is like to, say, install
software or hook Vista up to a home network. My guess is the
participants didn't have to endure frequent User Account Control
notifications either.

Yes, as we wrote earlier Microsoft designed the UAC to annoy, so we re-assert that if Microsoft added in, say, driver issues, compatibility issues, installation issues, and the UAC to the demo, they might have had a different result. Still, the video ought to be interesting to watch, when it appears. See above for the website "appearance" right now.